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CARE CAMPAIGN FOR THE VULNERABLE LEADING THE WAY ON INFLUENCING THE SECTOR TO ADOPT SAFETY MONITORING IN CARE HOMES

Probably like most people I had never really thought much about the care sector until my own mothers’ early onset dementia reached a point when professional help was necessary. I had naively thought that by definition a Care Home would ostensibly provide care, much in the same way a car sales business would sell you a car or a school would provide your children with an education. It was therefore a shock to find that when mum needed care, that my experience of such (and the experience of many others as I subsequently confirmed) was at best adequate and at worse poor. I am sure many Care Homes do provide services that meet and exceed family expectations, but I have also learned from bitter experience that too many do not. Care may mean different things to different people, but for all of us I suspect the bare minimum would include respect, dignity, choice and a place of safety for our vulnerable loved ones.

It seems not all Care Providers got that memo...

Consequently, I found my mums experience to fall well short of even those basic expectations. At times she wasn’t well presented, certainly wasn’t respected when on the receiving end of a number of care tasks, didn’t have any real opportunity to exercise any choice and certainly faced moments of unacceptable risk that resulted in avoidable incidents/injury. As her advocate I naturally raised concerns in an effort to improve her experience, yet the provider response was one of consistently overpromising but underdelivering, to the point where I was asked to remove my mother from the home.

''I DON'T BELIEVE MY EXPECTATIONS WERE TOO HIGH''

I don’t believe my expectations were too high, I don’t’ believe I behaved any differently than most other families who expressed concerns about care delivery, yet I was made to feel I was a vexatious complainant when all i was doing was raising issues to inadquate care and subsequently feeling very much vindicated when the home sadly went into special measures... TWICE. The really sad aspect of my experience was that very many other vulnerable residents had no advocate to represent them and as a result effectively remained in an oppressive and unkind environment without representation.

That is why Care Campaign for the Vulnerable was set up and that is why we are calling for safety monitoring in care homes. Such systems would expose appalling care, eradicate the ‘unexplained injury’ plague that seems to feature at many care locations, provide hard evidence when an incident does occur and create a much more transparent relationship between care providers and relatives. After all, families simply want to know for certain that their loved one is safe, respected and well cared for and carers want to do a valued job without fear of unfair and unwarrented allegations of causing injuries to their residents.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO CONTACT US REGARDING OUR SAFETY MONITORING IN CARE HOMES INITIATIVE PLEASE E MAIL US AT ccftv.cares@gmail.com